The Noir Aesthetics

Even though the "noir style" did not represent something completely
new within Hollywood film making I find it necessary to give an introduction
to the noir aesthetics, because this is something that the noirs
have in common. Even if the stylistics had been used in earlier movies, the
combinations of these expressions and techniques was to some extent new in
american movies and to the american audience.

One of the techniques used was the low-key lighting which causes the effect
of obscuring the action, and deglamourizing the star so that the composition
becomes more important than the actor. Earlier American movies had focused on
the star. The use of night and shadows emphasizes the cold and the darkness in
the noirs. The change of focus from the actors and movement in the image to the
compository excitement underline a fatalistic and hopeless mood. This mood is also
fortified through a complex narration, often disjuncted and fragmented. To do this
flashbacks are often used, which emphasizes the feeling of lost time and despair.
According to Paul Schrader time is manipulated because the form stands above the
content. In the narration voice-over is also often used , and in connection we sometimes
get to see the end of the film in its beginning. This is also an unconventional use of
the time notion that call forth a feeling of predestination and irrevocable past.

The wide-angle cinematography participated in making the space distorted and the
audience disoriented. In film noir we also find a repeated use of an image
composition where the lines no longer are horizontal, but vertical and sloping. This
gives an unsettling impression. In the noirs the world often seems like a prison,
something that these images along with the use of image metaphors like sun blinds help
to underline. We also find an extended use of extreme low and high-angle perspectives.

All of these stylistic elements served to disorient the spectators and create a mood
of uneasiness, alienation and loneliness in the movies. Thus, the dark and uneasy visual
expression of the film noirs emphasize the themes.